Äideistä parhain (2005)

Director:

Klaus Härö

Writers:

Veikko Aaltonen (based on a screenplay by)
Heikki Hietamies (novel)

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict...

Plot Keywords:

Finnish | Swedish | War Child | Beach | Flashback Sequence

Awards:

11 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Topi Majaniemi	...	Eero Lahti
Marjaana Maijala	...	Kirsti Lahti - Eeron äiti
Maria Lundqvist	...	Signe Jönsson - äiti Ruotsissa
Michael Nyqvist	...	Hjalmar Jönsson - isä Ruotsissa
Esko Salminen	...	Eero Lahti - nykyaika
Aino-Maija Tikkanen	...	Kirsti Lahti - nykyaika
Kari-Pekka Toivonen	...	Lauri - Eeron isä
Brasse Brännström	...	Isoisä Ruotsissa
Penny Elvira Loftéen	...	Siv - naapurintyttö
Maria Langhammer	...	Anna
Leif Andrée	...	Gunnar
Marie Göranzon	...	Rouva Grevnäs
Åsa Persson	...	Opettajatar
Gustav Wiklund	...	Pappi
Patrick Henriksen	...	Tuomas - kotiavustaja

Also Known As:

Den bästa av mödrar (Sweden)
Mother of Mine (International: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:111 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:111 min

Country:

Finland | Sweden

Language:

Finnish | Swedish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Sweden:11 | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Company:

Matila Röhr Productions (MRP)

Trivia:

Like the main character Eero, writer Heikki Hietamies was a war-child and was evacuated from Finland to Skåne, Sweden.

Fresh take on WWII Coming of Age theme

I liked this movie for several reasons: 1. It differs from other similarly-themed movies by focusing on the one "war child" (Eero) and his relationship with the two mothers in his life. That was fresh for me.

2. Great cinematography! Many beautiful shots of the Swedish countryside and other nicely-framed shots. One that impressed me was the shot of Eero sitting inside the concrete bunker with the sea and sky in the window next to his head. This movie is worth it just for the camera work.

3. Great acting by all of the actors.

4. Excellent story/plot that kept moving at a good pace.

The one negative comment I would make is regarding Eero's young female peer. She tries to be his friend, but he ignores her and their friendship is never developed, so I wondered what was the use of her character, since she had such a minor role. Maybe it ended up on the cutting room floor?

All in all, I highly recommend this movie.